The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy

There is a Metropolitan Revolution happening in the United States — this app explains what it is, why it matters, and how you can get involved.
Interactive infographics, interviews with leaders around the country, and original animations narrated by the Brookings Institution’s Bruce Katz bring this Revolution to life.

City and metropolitan leaders – from New York to Los Angeles, from Northeast Ohio to Portland – are solving our toughest problems and revamping U.S. economic relationships with the world.
Washington has its own budget and political crisis and is not riding to the rescue. So, in the face of federal gridlock, economic stagnation and fiscal turmoil, power in the United States is shifting away from Washington and toward our major cities and metropolitan areas.

The Metropolitan Revolution app is a visually rich, interactive take on the core ideas of The Metropolitan Revolution, a new book by Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley.

“The Metropolitan Revolution upends conventional wisdom and makes the case for how our cities and metros are leading American change and progress: they are transforming our national economy, political conversation, and collective destiny from the bottom up like never before. A must-read for anyone working toward a brighter future for our cities, and our nation.” – Mayor Cory Booker

“Just when ‘by the people, for the people’ seems like an anachronism, cities are giving it new meaning, fueled by 21st century technology. Every citizen needs to understand the metropolitan revolution. If we change cities, we change the country.” – Jennifer Pahlka, Founder and Executive Director, Code For America

Features:

The app brings the revolution to life with animations, interactive infographics, data visualizations, and video interviews that let you hear first hand from the metropolitan leaders behind the revolution.

• Animations that explain how economic growth really happens, who drives it, and the networks that help it flourish
• Location based interactive graphics throughout the app where you can learn how your region compares to metros around the country
• Shareable text, graphics, videos and animation
• Ways that you can join the revolution and help reshape your community’s political and economic future
• Detroit’s story, which illustrates how a city can reinvent itself for the twenty-first-century from a dense core
• Portlands story, which illustrates how a region can sell its strengths in the global economy
• Northeast Ohio’s story, which illustrates how networks can help modernize a manufacturing economy
• New York City’s story, which shows how N.Y.C. is planning for its economic future, knowing that every company is now a technology company
• Los Angeles’ story, which shows us how L.A. is fighting gridlock both on their highways and in Washington
• Houston’s story, which shows how a region can recognize immigrants as assets
• Denver’s story, which illustrates how cities and suburbs can collaborate to compete

About:

Bruce Katz is a former chief of staff at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and Staff Director and Senior Counsel to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. He is currently Vice President at The Brookings Institution and Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program.

Jennifer Bradley is former journalist and lawyer whose articles have appeared in The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly and The American Prospect, and who has co-authored briefs in major Supreme Court cases involving the scope of local government power. She is now a fellow at the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program.

For more information, visit www.metrorevolution.org